Heart and Soul (rewrite)

Chapter Twenty Four

When I finally went lame, when the vet checked me over and shook his head, when I celebrated my twenty ninth birthday, I finally went home. The same old stock trailer rattled as I stepped on, and I breathed deeply, letting the long lost memories flow over me. It was the same old iron sign that we passed, depicting a polo player. Many years ago, I had run like that. It was the same old barn that I was led into, except there was no Rex, no Doxie, no Vikingo, and no Paloma. It was the same old house that sat stop the hill, and it was the same old Annie that topped off my water buckets that evening.

"Alright, baby girl." She told me, tracing my star just like she used to. "I'm going to bring the boys in."

They returned with a big roan gelding and a little grullo horse. I nickered, and the roan stopped dead. He nearly dragged Annie to the door of my stall, and thrust his head inside. I pinned my ears, prepared to bite, when his scent reached me.

Blue.

It was Blue! I whinnied like a love struck filly and Blue nickered in return. I couldn't believe it! After all these years apart, he had never forgotten. Annie eventually managed to pull us apart, but we spent the whole night nickering back and forth. I learned he had indeed become a champion, but before he could be put up to stud he was stolen. He rode in a trailer for days, before he was abandoned in a farm field. He was rescued and retrained, and a little girl rode him for years. When she went to college he was sold to a rider who trained him how to jump. He described soaring over jumps taller than he was, but all I could think about was the ditch.

He told me had gone to something called the Olympics, and his rider wore a gold medal. He jumped for years afterwards, but tore his suspensory and retired. His rider was forced to sell him to make ends meet, and he wound up here. I told him my story, but left out the worst parts. Blue's view of humans was glowing, and I couldn't tarnish that for him.

Eventually we were turned out together, and I learned the little grullo gelding was Paloma's son. I told him as much as I could remember about his mother, and his spirit was true to hers.

As years passed and Blue and I grew old together Annie's little blonde girl went off to high school, then college. We stayed in our same old field though, with the same old woman feeding us the same old stuff.

Never had I been so thankful.